MEASURE & MANAGE TEAMS
Teams are often judged on-time and on-budget. In an environment of extreme uncertainty, this will incentivise the wrong behaviour. Companies need accountability measures that benefit the company and the team. Many managers know this but finding the right accountability measures is not that easy.
Successful innovation teams learn and execute the right thing at the right time, with maximum speed and minimal resources. To encourage this behaviour, it needs and can be measured. It makes more sense to understand the number and quality of experiments and research conducted and insights gathered. This is monitored by insight and experimentation velocity though there are many more sensible KPI’s.
It is important to start and not let perfection stand in the way of something good. One experiment a week is a goal every team can strive to achieve from the outset. More advanced measures look at reviewing the quality and relevance of the experiments, and whether they fit the respective learning and decision-making goals. A sample of experiments can be enough to gain some understanding and to judge if the team needs help.
Psychological safety is necessary for breakthrough innovation, thus measuring it is just as important as measuring other aspects of any innovation environment.
Incentivising the right individual and team behaviour and a thriving environment can be achieved with a good accountability framework.